Get your engines ready, hunties, because our favorite reality show, RuPaul’s Drag Race, is revving up its engines for Season 8 in two weeks. To coincide with its premiere, they had a huge event last night at the one and only Stage 48 to showcase the 12 new queens vying for the title that have helped legends in the making from Sharon Needles to Raja win and go on to bigger and better things. Our guest writer, the handsome and talented Matt Belvedere, covered the event for Manhattan Digest, and got the inside scoop from all the new queens, and the old (I mean really old) ones including Bianca Del Rio (hehe). Check it out.
Bob The Drag Queen, a local favorite of New York City, had his own look in mind when he showed up to the premiere party. “This is very Barberella, but more like Bob-erella, with my Blue Dame Edna hair on. I had my helmet on because I rode my segue all the way down here, and I believe safety is important.” Bob, who was featured in an OraQuick commercial a couple years back on LOGO, also touched up upon the group of NYC & Brooklyn girls on this cast, simply stating “This is the best group of New York City girls we have had on the show”, when referring to fellow cast mates like Thorgy Thor.
Chi Chi Devayne, a Louisiana Queen, describes herself on her Twitter page as “Beauty, Camp & Energy“, showed up to the event, had some serious inspiration behind her own look as well last night. “The inspiration is old Hollywood glamour, kind of Marilyn Monroe. I’m a pageant girl, so I love a lot of stones, lot of bling, and all that good stuff.” When it came to getting the phone call to do drag race, she was shocked. “I couldn’t even explain it! I wanted to just die, because it is a life changing experience for me. I worked my ass off to get to where i am now, so when I got the call to get on Drag Race, I was head over heels screaming, hollering, all of that”.
Chicago queen Kim Chi, who showed up in a very Anime/Sailor Moon inspired type look, had a lot of great things to say about the filming process for season 8. “It wasn’t stressful at all. Basically, you had the whole day to do the challenge, challenge varies, then you wake up and do the elimination one the next day. Simple as that”. Kim also mentioned that when it came to season 7, she was rooting for her friends Pearl and Trixie Mattel to win, but was happy if anyone did.
Boston is representing again this season. Last season they had fan favorite in Katya, and this season it belongs to Laila McQueen, who started doing drag when she was in high school. “I have been doing this for seven years, but I am talking the day after I turned eighteen, I was doing performances. I was like, let’s go out, let’s do this!” When it comes to past judges on the show, Laila happens to like Niecy Nash the most. “She comes to my head first, been thinking about her a lot. She’s always a hoot!”
Another local queen, Thorgy Thor, who donned a fat suit for the premiere event, has auditioned for the show since season one. “It took me through a lot of ups and downs ups and downs. When I finally got the call that I was going to be on season 8, I was ready to go. I wasn’t Susan Lucci anymore”. She described her look that night as simply “half being FUCK YOU, stop telling me what to do, and two, drag should be fun- push boundaries. You gotta stick out somehow.”
Finally, reigning Season 6 queen Bianca Del Rio stopped on by. Her favorite challenge during her season may come as a surprise to some. “It was actually the rap challenge, it was something I don’t normally do and a fun thing to experience. You set yourself up for a television show so you have to do whatever is in front of you”. When it comes to working post Drag Race, she says “It has been a lot harder, but I have been doing this for twenty years so I kind of prepared myself for it. In fairness, you sit back and roll with the punches and it has been surreal, just a great two years”.
When it comes to who she is rooting for in season eight, she has a great piece of information for not who she wants, but how the public views each season- “Everybody forms an opinion from seeing the trailer, but they have no content on what they are about. So, a lot of people are just fucking stupid, because they jump the gun and are just like “Oh, she’s going to be like this”, like shut the fuck up and watch the show. You never know what’s going to happen. Nobody thought I was going to win when I won so it is what it is”. To end things, her favorite winner is Sharon Needles because, “she gets wasted and you can steal her drugs”, she doesn’t have Bebe’s number because, “Nobody calls her”, and hasn’t deal much with Tyra Sanchez because “she’s usually in jail”. Loves it.
For more info on Drag Race, check out their official site.